Parkinson’s disease is a brain condition that affects around 8.5 million people worldwide and is characterised by symptoms such as slowed movement (bradykinesia), tremors, painful muscle contractions and difficulty speaking. These arise from disrupted brain circuits following the loss of dopamine-producing neurons.
Symptoms get worse over time, resulting in high rates of disability and the need for care. There is currently no cure for Parkinson disease, but therapies such as DBS can reduce symptoms. However, this requires invasive brain surgery to implant electrodes, and is often not available or affordable in low- and middle-income countries.
A key feature of Parkinson’s disease is the presence of abnormal beta-band brain oscillations, which are strongly linked to symptom severity and are a target for DBS therapy. However, until now, no ultrasound technique had been shown to directly modulate these disease-related brain signals in a controlled and mechanistic way.
Lead author, Dr John Eraifej (Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences and Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences), said: ‘These results open the door for transcranial ultrasound stimulation to be used as a non-invasive therapeutic tool, not just in Parkinson’s but also in other brain disorders.’
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences website.